A Game Turned Nightmare
by DarkHeroPresents
Summary: When Ruby gets an idea in her mind, there is no stopping her. So when JNPR and RWBY go to test an in-development 'full dive environment' system, will the staff be able to to help the group of friends or will each friend have to live their own, and even their friend's, worst fears to survive. (First fanfic, please enjoy)
1. Chapter 1

_Hello everyone,_

_This will be my first fanfic and I do hope you will like it. This fanfic will focus on the RWBY universe. I find that looking at other stories tends to be good for a story with an idea but no meat or potatoes, and I do believe in giving credit where credit is due, "Grimm Nightmare" by VioletDragonian and The Nightmare Machine from the Star Wars Galaxy of Fear series. Thank you and enjoy._

Setting will be some time after JNPR and RWBY have gone through the season finally and before the "Best Day Ever." Beacon, Cafeteria; just after the last class of the day.

The table consisted of: Jaune, Pyyrha, Ren, and Nora on one side of the table and Weiss, Ruby, Blake and Yang on the parallel side of the table. Weiss was filing her nails, Blake reading something Jaune had suggested (some comic named Xray and Vav) though she seemed to be losing interest fast, and Yang and Nora were eagerly shooting random assortments of fruit and candies into the others mouth. Jaune and Pyyrha were in mid argument about Jaune's new training schedule, with Jaune getting more training with every complaint. Ren, on second glance, Ren honestly looked like he was falling asleep; which, was probably a good thing considering that Jaune and Nora had said that Ren had trouble sleeping and was constantly dozing off in class (yet he still was passing as if he was awake for the entire day).

That left Ruby to her own devices, and at this point it was the internet and Ruby's endless imagination. Even Yang would agree that this could turn real bad, real quick; however, so far Ruby had only seen ads about game systems, new books released and alpha testing for random assortments of devices. Among the new devices was an: automatic weapon loader, an automatic blade polisher and a full dive weapon testing system. Yes she was on a site for Weapons Enthusiasts Every Day (W.E.E.D) that gave all new information on weapon related topics. The new fad being game systems and automatic do-hickies to teach you proper use of said weapon.

The very last page had a weird link to a full dive machine designed for skill building. It advertised for relationship building for close friends, but had a big warning that is was still in alpha testing. It asked for groups to test it with the disclaimer that it was still an alpha and that there was still the chance for slip ups. Ruby's mind began to turn and think of a good group activity to do on tomorrow's free day for Beacon students. Ruby looked at each of the group members and decided it may be a good activity for both teams, and that was that. Ruby's stubbornness was equal to Yang's, so it was now impossible to stop her and she knew it. Yang saw Ruby's smile and neglected the grape that smacked her in the head to an audible…

"Oh No."

Hours later in the RWBY dorm room Ruby looked on her scroll for a way to sign the two teams up for the alpha test. It was this point in time that Jaune's cautious personality had finally gotten rid of his nerves and asked the question everyone had on their mind.

"Uhh, Yang so why did you say 'oh no' at the cafeteria? I was, uhh, wondering why you were suddenly really scared." He finished with a nervous chuckle. The entire group looked at Yang and then followed her gaze to the back of Ruby's head. If all the groups stare were a bullet, not even Torchwick would be able the block the shots or even walk after that volley of fire. Ruby decided to turn around to face the group with a very satisfied smile, one that both seemed happy and devious in the same instant. Wiess, who was finishing Oobleck's homework assignment, let out a similar audible 'oh no' in the Schnee manner,

"Ruby Rose, why do I have a bad feeling about what you are about to say?"

"Well, we get to have a bonding day; all eight of us will be going into town tomorrow."

_Thank you for reading my first chapter. This story will be intended to get a hold on peoples likes and dislikes in my writing style._

_On a side note I don't own RWBY, Monty is a genius and very creative for giving way to this new universe. All stories I base off in this universe will be my "head cannon" and will jump around depending on my intentions._

_I hope you have enjoyed and I will plan to write in a looser schedule and will work to get a chapter out every week or two. Thank you and hope to get good criticism from all types of readers and writers._

_-DarkHero_


	2. Chapter 2: The Warehouse

Hello everyone,

_Just wanted to say that this will be the last setting up chapter for the story; you will get most opinions of the others, will this affect the way the full dive system will react or will the game just be as intended who knows. Once the story gets rolling I plan to take a bigger magnifying glass to the chapters. Enjoy._

Chapter 2: The Warehouse.

Weiss was right to have gotten scared. She trusted technology as far as she could throw it and alpha or in-dev devices are generally big and bulky. The group stood next to a warehouse down by the dock, Sun had ended up tagging along; however , he was not allowed to actually 'dive' with them. The developers had asked the two teams, plus one to wait as they straightened out a mess. Honestly the nerve of some people, they had at least an eight hour notice that a group of eight would show up and they didn't think to clean up. If the Schnee Company had any hand in the development, the last thing that would happen would have been a mess.

"Hey Ruby," Pyrrha began, "What exactly are we doing here?"

"Yea Rubes I could get anything out of you this morning." Yang finished.

"Well, I called them last night after I left the cafeteria and they said that the intended use was to put friends in an environment that you control what happens. Like if we wanted to train with other weapons or try different clothes on and only have to think about the outfit. Or even build full scenarios of bad guy vs good guy or even recreate Yang's raid on Junior's club." Ruby replied in a fast pace Ruby manner.

Virtual clothes shopping, weapons shopping and training in an environment that you controlled the details on what occurred. The weapons were what attracted Ruby, and Wiess new that without a doubt, but the shopping and training was totally the dunce actually thinking about what everyone else liked. Jaune would probably look for some knight armor to run around in, Pyyrha might train… and laugh at Jaune. Though her train of thought was broken by a question she hadn't even considered.

"Wait who is this Junior guy? Some bad dude who lost a few too many bananas" Sun asked a little cautious, but in a Sun way.

"NO ONE! Just this guy," Yang quickly answered, "a really dumb guy."

"Oooo, is Yang hiding a little booping from us?" Nora asked without a second heart beat.

"FAR FROM IT! HE IS A NO GOOD, LITTLE RAT WHO THINKS HE CAN GET AWAY WITH PLAYING WITH FIRE!" Yang exclaimed. The group laughed a little trying not to incur the wrath of hell.

"He is a well-known informant in the streets." Weiss finally replied, "He works in managing thugs and knowing what there is to be known." Weiss now only hoped that this didn't warrant more questions towards her.

"Must be nice to have a family business, especially a powerful and well-known one." Jaune finally chimed-in. What was Arc's approach? He wouldn't go so low as to try and get her this way, would he?

"How," Blake quarried, "it leaves a lot of room for a lot of bad experiences?"

"Trust me it does. I can count on one hand the amount of times father came home happy." this warranted a lot of affection to be thrown her way.

Just then a lady in a lab coat opened the door and ushered them into the warehouse. Wiess and Jaune were the last two in and what occurred really was a surprise. Jaune picked up the pace to pass Weiss, but not before a strange, "you're welcome." was whispered while he passed by her. It almost looked like it was another attempt to hook up with her; however, the seriousness he held and the quick thinking was not Jaune when he flirted (he tended to be sporadic and nervous, not thought out and serious).

By the time Weiss had caught up to her team the thought had completely left her mind, and filled with wonder and awe.

* * *

><p>Jaune thought back to the door they entered. They walked into some make shift hallways and seen cluttered piles of random equipment. Now, they stood in the main room of the warehouse: sleek chrome floors, high tech equipment, fiberglass wiring, sound proof inline on the walls and even the scientist were either hot grown women or (and he had to admit it) handsome men working behind the equipment, taking readings or just being useful in some way.<p>

"So what did they have to clean up?" Weiss asked out loud

"Probably just random assortments of things they don't want us to know about." Blake replied.

It seemed reasonable, Jaune had to admit. He couldn't see a speck of dust on any piece of equipment. In the middle of the room lay what he assumed they were here for: eight chairs that were laid back, held some flashy lights, chrome head restraints and cables neatly wrapped up coming from the headrest to the floor in the floor to a final device that was centered in between the chairs. The device itself held buttons and knobs and other screens with numbers and words flashing across them.

Jaune was completely dumbfounded. Sun's, Ruby's and his first reaction were to get real close and start pushing buttons. Needless to say before they could both the escort lady and Weiss had stopped them with a slap on Ruby's and Sun's wrist, Jaune chuckled a little from being quick enough to dodge both women. Though his victory was short lived Pyrrha was right behind him to thump him on the head.

The rest of the group went to the opposite side of the warehouse with Pyrrha and Jaune in tow. He looks around and could see a projector around two meters from the wall and a little cylinder immediately next to the wall. They were instructed to sit down on benches that rose from the floor and to just pay attention. Shortly a little power point slide show had appeared with rules while in the machine.

"Now," the lady began, "while in the machine your bodies will be completely still and you won't be able to move. Since the machine is still in development there are some rules while you dive. Simple and to the point: you can't rewrite physics, you can't exceed your body's potential and your only limit is your imagination."

"Question," Weiss, "is there any way for us to communicate with the 'outside world' and with one another?"

"Yes, you will be in a shared dream sequence, you will physically be able to touch one another. And for your first question I will let 'Balance' handle that."

As she finished the sentence, the cylinder unlocked and powered on. "Woah! What the!" Jaune exclaimed. Finally the cylinder projected a wave, like an ocean wave that constantly flowed.

"Hello, I am Balance. I run the Full Dive Practical Use and Scenario Creator. My main function is to record and help communications of the 'Divers' and the supporting staff. If you have any other questions, I will be your immediate help in the device as well as a hands on teacher to help with integration and scenario building. I welcome you to 'My World', as the head director once called it."

The projection disappeared and the cylinder locked back up and powered down. Two seconds past before the lady spoke up once more.

"Before you ask, our head direct passed away two nights ago, he was quite old and this was his final wish. He wanted one device designed to bring society together, instead of the unintended use of pushing one another apart."

With that the group returned to the chairs and settled in while the staff locked the group in the seats.

"ohh, hey Sun." Jaune called.

"Yea what's up, can't leave without seeing my handsome face?"

"But of course. No I just need a favor."

"Shoot I'm all ears," he replied as he put his tail next to Jaune, "and tail."

Both laughed and Sun leaned a little closer "If anything happens to us, could you call Beacon, at least let Professor Ozpin and Goodwitch know what's going on? That would be a big help."

"No problem, just one condition, don't let anything go wrong."

"No promises." With that Balance called for all stations to give a full update as he synchronized the subjects and the device to a common world. Jaune heard hardly anything, because seconds after the first reading was called he fell asleep and woke up to him falling in a void white space.


	3. Chapter 3: Just a Game, Right?

Chapter 3: Just a game, Right?

Blake opened her eyes to see just a blank space. Nothing but white and wind hitting her face as she fell; it felt good, the wind hitting her face and blowing through her hair. As she fell she thought she could see a speck farther down. This speck tuned out to be a person with a chest plate and a hoodie, Jaune. As she fell they seemed to eventually level out with each other.

"Jaune, do you have any idea what's going on?"

"Heh Heh, not a clue. Last thing I remember was talking to Sun, and then falling."

Soon another familiar face was falling next to them, a little girl with a red cloak and hoodie laughing as she fell backwards.

"Hey Blake, how are ya?"

Jaune and Blake both gave Ruby a confused look, "Uhh Ruby," Blake started, "How are you falling backwards?"

"Remember, the limits of Balance's world are only your imagination; I thought of falling as cool, but falling backwards as cooler, so, here I am."

Blake looked at Jaune to see his reaction, and what she saw shouldn't have surprised her, but it did. Jaune had gone from falling forward to now standing on what looked like a surfboard. Well there was no use in being the only one to just fall. She thought about it for a second. The first image to come to mind was a nice comfortable chair with a nice fluffy foot rest and a good book to past the time. With that thought she was instantly in an elegant chair with a fluffy foot rest and a book she had wanted to read for a while, Riders of the Ghostly Sky by a faunus sympathizer named John Cash. A good five minutes and fifteen pages later: Jaune was still attempting to complete a full seven-twenty flip without losing the board and creating a new one, Ruby was asleep with a beowolf (not some plushy either an actually beowolf she thought up), and no others had shown up. It occurred to Blake that maybe if she thought of all her friends showing up in various ways, they would show up. She didn't think too hard on the details, if what she wanted to occur happened they would all show up in their own way.

Not two seconds later a system of booms filled with laughter came from one direction. Blake turned to see her own partner using Ember Cecile to perfect her "landing strategy." Her target had apparently become Blake's lap, slowly getting closer and closer until a final front flip for style and Yang's butt seated neatly on the chair in between Blake's legs.

"Nailed it."

Blake's only response was her signature eye roll. That left a whole four other members to magically appear. The next two to appear were the high and mighty duo; although, one was actually down to Remnant with the rest of them, so to speak. Weiss and Pyrrha floated in on a float that looked like a traditional Vale Flower Parade held every New Year's morning. Weiss in some extravagant dress that made her look like Snow White, and Pyrrha was in a more decorative version of her normal combat gear with one difference being that her circlet was by a company called "Hephaestus Arms and Armor." Upon making eye contact with Jaune it was hard for Blake to believe that Jaune would be as dense as to miss Pyrrha change to eight different shades of red.

The final duo appeared, and you couldn't miss them if you tried, a huge black dot stayed just out of range of her sight. Blake finished the chapter she was on and looked to see what Ren and Nora were doing. Nora stood firmly on the head of a Nevermore with Ren clutching onto one of the bones on its back. The audible laugh of Nora could be heard shortly followed by a little song they all knew and some loved.

"_I'm queen of the Castle; I'm queen of the Castle._"

"**NORA!** I thought I told you never do this again!"

"But that was an Ursa and this is a Nevermore, if Weiss and Ruby got to do it why can't we? OOOO, and this one won't break!"

The gang was all here and now the real fun could begin, at least that what she had hoped for. She hoped that the whole virtual shopping, or sitting in a park of her mind while finishing this book would actually start. At that thought a familiar ocean wave appeared like a hologram projection.

"Welcome, to my world." Balance began. The wave soon shifted and all that was left was a man that wore strange apparel. His color scheme was simply black and white: his coat had black with white buttons on the left side side and white with black buttons on the other, his pants were black with white pin stripes on his left and vice versa on the other side, his left shoe was black and his right was white, his left glove was a fingerless biker glove, the right was a fancy white glove you would see at a Weiss level banquet, his left eye was white and his right was black, and to top it all off his hair and skin were grey.

As he made a slight bow he disappeared and reappeared in front of everyone all at once. The one in front of Blake spoke separate from any other copy. "Miss Belladonna, if you would sync with my program this will make it easier to create scenarios and communicate with others who you can't see or the staff in the warehouse."

Blake did as she was told with a simple hand shake and her Balance had disappeared; now she had a full H.U.D. she could use, everyone was tagged with their symbol and an outline of their favorite color. Soon the entire group was making Vale from memory and Weiss was toting Ruby around like a little lap dog, Yang was having fun running on the roof tops Pyrrha and Jaune were similar to team 'ice flower'; however , both parties agreed on what store to go to in order to "shop." By the third shop Jaune had broken down and given in to his hero-wanna-be side. A full suite of armor, Weiss hide her laugh decently well and Ruby gave full support before turning and running into a store to laugh, Pyrrha stood there and chuckled before doing something similar in Atlas's style rather than Vale's older style.

Blake just sat on her park bench reading John Cash's book, laughing internally only showing the signature Belladonna eye roll. Reading the book was all fun, but Blake wanted to do a sparring match with Pyrrha. Why? Why not, in this environment she wouldn't have any permanent damage and its free practice with a champion of fighting. Balance appeared and asked what setting and climate and time of day she wanted for their arena. Blake settled on a coliseum style arena, mid-day, slight overcast, and all their friends were invited to watch. Five minutes later, Blake was finishing her warm up.

Balance appeared in between the two fighters and asked if they were ready, "If you are ready then just draw your weapons. Additionally I wanted to know if you wanted to adjust the pain reins."

"What is its purpose?" Blake asked.

"Its purpose is to keep the pain sensors occupied and under control so if you are hit it won't have the same effect as the actual feeling of a sword entering your body." Balance replied.

"What are the recommended settings?" Pyrrha.

"One is an actual sword, five is that of a sword hitting armor, eight is no more than a sting and ten is no feeling at all. For a battle such as this my system recommends a setting of eight."

"Then apply the recommended setting please. Thank you Balance." Pyrrha.

The battle began and it was a whole other experience. They could fight as if to the death and they would feel little more than a sting. In five minute increments they battled, stopping after a hit to reset and restart. Pyrrha had successfully struck Blake in three different places while Blake had hit Pyrrha twice. It was first one to five strikes.

They started, both sides taking a defensive pose to avoid contact with the other. They started to circle and look for an opening. Pyrrha took one step to close and Blake lunged, her hit struck Akoúo and blocked Miló in one swing. She used this opportunity to shadow clone above her and come straight down, in theory it worked but Gamble shroud slightly moved to hit the rising Akoúo. Another shadow clone brings her back to the ground and bounce away, as she did this, her vision became static like and she couldn't move in time to dodge Miló. The sword now in spear form pierces Blake's right shoulder; however, the pain was not withheld and blood began to spill out. The seven friends rush to Blake's side. All eight look at each other not knowing what to do.

Sun was increasingly becoming bored. The staff didn't let him touch anything and all the hot girls were too busy or just straight out brushed him off. All of a sudden he hears a clang of someone struggling in the metal chairs and what sounded like Blake's voice screaming in pain. He rushes over pushing all staff out of the way to reach her, her right shoulder had started to bleed. Sun pulled out his scroll and hit call.

"Professor Ozpin? Umm yea you don't know me, but you might wanna get down to warehouse ten, at the docks, its RWBY and JNPR."

_In the words of a battle crazy jedi, "This is where the fun begins." Now we get to go deeper and deeper. We will follow Ruby Rose, Jaune Arc, Blake Belladonna, with a slight possibility of a Weiss arc as we see what RWBY and JNPR really are afraid of. Warning some may be really cliché._


	4. Chapter 4: The Bird and the Qrow

Chapter 4: The Bird and the Qrow.

Ruby was no longer with the group, but now in a cookie shop. Well this was one way to throw her a surprise. Chocolate chip and mint cookies and cream, plain old cookie dough and oatmeal. Ewww oatmeal, except for the oatmeal cookies there was every cookie Ruby loved. The man behind the counter was a nice enough looking man, kinda tall with a nice goatee and the usual baker uniform. In the corner Yang and a darker colored girl with emerald colored hair were talking. The shop itself was small: the area in front of the counter could hold a max of ten people comfortably, the baker had a glass window to show the back and it seemed he only made one type of cookie at a time, and finally there was just enough space behind the counter for the baker to walk and turn around. Even if it was small Ruby liked it, it was very mom and pop, not many people appreciated the classics.

Wait! What happened to everyone? She had been so distracted by the cookies she didn't even think about Blake or Pyrrha, or Blake's shoulder. On that note, it occurred to Ruby that both had stabbed and cut vital parts and walked away with little more than a light effect, but that last time…

*Pang* that tingle…

Even though no one moved, Ruby had developed what Ozpin had called a sixth sense. Even if she was around a million security guards, she had a knack for knowing when grimm or Torchwick's goons were around or if someone meant harm in general. At this moment she had 'that tingle'. Her fight or flight instincts were urging, begging her to get out of that shop and run. She calmly and without a word walked out of the cookie shop and started for Beacon. Soon after Yang came running out to her,

"Ruby, wait up. What's wrong?" Yang.

"I don't know. I had that feeling." Ruby.

"What feeling? Is there trouble?" Yang replied calmly.

Yang knew full well what 'that' feeling was, so why was she acting like it was nothing? It was like Yang didn't care that Ruby was uncomfortable, her usual peppy, happy joking personality was gone. The emerald haired girl soon came out as well, guns drawn and aimed in their direction. Her feeling had been right. Ruby took two steps past Yang drawing Crescent Rose as she did. In full scythe form defense was easy, and for good reason since the girl had started to fire at them. Blocking each shot with ease Ruby was confident, a simple thug couldn't do much.

"Ruby is not an easy mark, girly, her semblance is speed."

"Good to know, maybe I should test her melee abilities."

What was this? Yang was, was standing behind her just standing there, helping the girl. Mark? What did she mean? Yang had done freelance work before, but she never did assassinations, and she would never take a mark on her own sister. This was one weird simulation, if Yang made this as a joke, she was sure to get back at her one day. Focus Ruby, focus on the fight then kill Yang later. The girl's guns went from guns to Kamas, which could only mean that she forged her weapons. Could she be a huntress?

A million different questions swirled in her head. Why was Yang acting like this? Why was this girl trying to kill her? Why did this seem real? The stamina to swing Crescent Rose, the wind of the bullets, the shrapnel that followed a clean slice from Crescent Rose; this was like a bad dream, one that she just wanted to wake up from before it turned into a nightmare. Ruby waited until the girl was up close and Yang decided it would be fun to join in before she shot the ground with one of Weiss's dust cloud rounds (basically a smoke grenade but it give Ruby enough vertical or horizontal force to disappear from a scene completely). She escaped to a nearby roof and took off towards Beacon. She had a total of three minutes until they decided to look from high to low instead of running the streets so that left two minutes to reach the aircraft station and hide.

Off in the distance, no, closer. On a street lamp a little nevermore sat. It followed Ruby's path with its eyes. When its eyes actually glowed Ruby was confused. What wasn't confusing was your friendly neighborhood sister that wants to kill you popping up the next roof down to intersect you. This was slowly turning into a nightmare. So much so that she would take help from anyone to make sense of this.

She changed her mind, Beacon would be a bad idea. Wait, why had she just thought that? She jumped down to ground level and hide in a dumpster, lucky her it was empty. Yang fell down and stood in place confused, the other girl came to her aid.

"Which way did she go?" Yang.

"Didn't see anyone come this way, you go up and I'll watch the floor again" the Emerald haired girl (oh fine it emerald, if you haven't figured that out yet) stated. With that they left the alley on a hunt for 'their mark'.

Ruby was safe, for now. Ruby need to think, she needed a place she could be safe, she needed an ally. If she could find any other members of RWBY then she could at least figure what was wrong with Yang, even help from JNPR would be good. Ruby waited another forty seconds before she left her spot and walked cautiously around. She had made it back to the park Blake had been at before the duel and hide in the bushes; she had remembered that the bushes in the far back had a little covered alcove, the only way to see it was from sliding across the building it bordered. Before she could get over there a heavy hand grabbed her shoulder. She turned around expecting the worst, she was glad to get the best. Qrow stood there in his Signal Academy professor uniform,

"Ruby I can't talk for long, but don't trust your friends. They are your enemies in here; you have to find out how to face yourself. If this is a nightmare like you think, then look for help in people that you don't get help from." And with that he left, turned a corner and vanished.

Look for help in those you least expect help from, people like CRDL. She didn't stop until she reached the air transport to Beacon, even if her instincts told her not to. Outside she could see the familiar cliffs of Beacon birds and even another transport off in the distance. The transport inside was empty, and a little dark, it was really creepy, like that feeling when you think someone is watching you… *Pang*

Ruby's head turned to see a little nevermore flying next to the transport. From the shadows that filled transport an audible sigh was released. A gun shot and a hook gun flew out and stabbed the seat where Ruby had just been moments ago. Gamble Shroud! Ruby didn't stop to confirm it, if Blake was hunting her, the dark was the last place to be in; Faunus can see in the dark so she has the advantage. Hey she did pay attention to Oobleck's lessons, ohh, she paid attention to Oobleck's lessons. The only place she could see with light was the top of the transport itself.

Ruby rushed up there using her semblance to gain a lead. The wind while on top of the transport was the last thing Ruby had thought of, mainly due to the fact that she almost fell off when she stopped moving. She drew Crescent Rose and stabbed the top face the access hatch to get a nice grip and a way to fight back. Blake soon followed her problem not with staying up without falling, but avoiding Crescent Rose's continuous fire. She used her semblance to make a stone statue to root her to the top, great that meant Weiss was a no go for any help, and cocked Gamble Shroud in hook form giving some slack to the binding on her arm.

Blake released her weapon, Gamble Shroud flew to Crescent Rose and wrapped around the blade. She then began pulling or her weapon, loosening Crescent Rose from its hold. Ruby's heart dropped in fear: the wind that was so loud was now quite, the engines of the transport silenced, and Ruby's heart beat so slow time itself slowed down. Blake gave on last hard tug and Crescent Rose was freed from Ruby's only salvation, her only hope to survive. Crescent Rose flew right past her and Ruby began a long journey to a jagged shore at the base of Beacons cliffs.

*Dunh* *Dunh* *Duuuuuuuunh* Will our hero survive the fall? Will that little Nevermore become a problem for any of the others? Will Qrow help only Ruby? What Happened to all of her friends? Are oatmeal cookies really that bad? Find out next week on .

Ok now that that is out of the way. Hope you guys enjoyed, is this getting good or am I just optimistic? Next chapter we get to see What 'Qrow' meant by help from those that would be the least likely to help, and we start to get into "Learning the Game."


	5. Bonus Chapter: Nora's Nightmare

Bonus Chapter: Nora – The Real Nightmare is not Death, but the time we have after.

Nora had been fighting wave after wave after wave of grimm with Ren at her back. Team RWBY and the rest of Team JNPR were told to fight until back up arrived. Beowolf and Ursa were a constant with the occasional Deathstalker or Boarbatusk squad would show up. As of now it was a Deathstalker that had just arrived causing the teams to split into Jaune and Pyrrha with Ruby and Weiss to fight off all side grimm; while, Nora and Ren with Yang and Blake focused on the stalker. This was a Ruby and Jaune executive decision to have the bruisers get groups and the tanks focus on one thing to even out the load.

The fight with the Deathstalker was not long, but it was a full frontal attack. Yang had taken a good fifty hits and had a deep red iris color so she jumped behind the Deathstalker and grabbed the tail half way holding it in place. Ren and Blake went along trying to hit softer areas and give Nora reign on breaking his legs and cracking the mask to try and kill it quickly. Yang's grip was slipping so to eliminate the stinger as a problem Ren hopped up onto the tail and shot the stinger almost completely off. Second time was not a charm and both Yang and Ren are tossed back a little ways. Nora gets one good hit and the mask cracks in the center, Blake takes the opportunity and slingshots Gamble Shroud into the crack and yells for Nora to smash it. Nora does, clicking one more round to give Magnhild more force and with a loud crack and one last hiss the death stalker dies; however, the day would be a pyrrhic victory for Nora. Magnhild's last shot launched the stinger into the air and it was heading straight for her, just before it hit her, Ren shoves Nora out of the way.

Jaune, Pyrrha, Ruby and Weiss all finish mopping up the strays and rush over to see what had happened to Ren. Ren had been extremely luck, the stinger had only scratched his skin and ripped his pant leg. The group laughs and wanders a little closer to the initial meet point to see the favorites: Ozpin Goodwitch, Port , Oobleck, and CFVY with a Transport to send them back and the new group to continue the clearing job. The ride home was silent; Ren had once told Nora that Things always get worse before it can get better and that the worse thing to happen will happen after the calm of the storm. Quite ominous to her but she was happy as long as Ren was by her side. Five minutes from Beacon Nora rested her head on Ren, that's right, her Renny. She felt her and Ren tilt a little then…

*Thud*

Ren had fallen from his sitting position to his side on the floor, both Teams race to his side with Nora on her knees trying to wake him up and get him on his seat. Pyrrha ran to the transport to tell them to hurry as fast as they could and to tell Beacon Academy that they needed to rush Lie Ren to the ER. The second the transports doors opened a puff of red roses appeared and Ruby was running Ren to Beacon's ER. The rest of the group ran in as close a follow as they could but were still five minutes behind Ruby. Once they got there, Ruby had told the group everything the experts could tell her.

"They said that even though he was fine and was only scratched, the venom on a Deathstalker is extremely potent and that had we gotten her any latter Ren would be in an unrecoverable state. Nora I told them you two grew up together and that you were immediate contact if anything were to happen on campus."

"Nora go, they will need permission to use any medical drugs on Ren, and if his parents don't answer a call… just go Nora" Pyrrha. Nora began to run and looked back over her shoulder to thank Ruby and Pyrrha, when she did she noticed that their eyes flashed a pretty blue and then back to normal.

Nora barged into a room labeled as 'observation room.' The doctor there was on the phone looking real jumpy, upon seeing Nora his face relaxed. He asked tons of questions as they went on and a lot of signing had to be done to officially recognize her as emergency contact but it was done and she could give decisions now. The actual operation room was simple: cabinets, tools, a table, lights, and a little window to one side nice and high so she could see the moon rising now. The operation took a while and Ren was starting to recover.

A half hour had past and they noticed he was reacting to their actions a bit more, the doctor told them to give him a sedative. A little movement had caught Nora's eye; the little window was now occupied by a small nevermore looking creature. It looked at Nora and its red eyes flashed another darker red and then looked at Ren. Nora's gut dropped, "WHAT'S IN THAT SEDATIVE!?"

The doctor looked at Nora in surprise," Uhh, just…just normal nerve reception dampeners, but since hunters and huntress have aura to protect them we added a red choral to bypass the aura."

"NO." she looked to Ren, it was too late. Ren was extremely allergic to red choral, it messed with the, "balance of my body and if I am unconscious I can't correct it so I would probably die"(Ren's words).

The heart beat monitor fell flat, the jumping line that showed Ren's life, had stop stopped jumping. Nora broke down crying, she had just lost her best friend. They were never together together, but they were always together. A white noise and a blur of her vision and she was in a group with her best black dress and holding a single flower. RWBY and JNP_ with CFVY and the staff at Beacon around her.

An hour past with as many friends sharing little known but he helped as many as possible. Nora was next and she didn't know if she could get through her entire speech she had on her paper. When she had time to write it, she couldn't remember; she just didn't want to read it, but she did. The entire speech took ten minutes in between the sobs and consolidation of others.

Once she had finished and every one had walked away she just stood there with the single flower in hand, not wanting to let go of it in fear that she would let go of Ren all together.

"Never knew a time, when you weren't be my side" she said quietly, "I guess I can't just leave you here alone so just don't forget I'm here and I won't forget about you. Okay?"

She set the flower down and walked away. The time she would have now is hers and she didn't have her whole world with her anymore. She walked back to the car she had come with; Ruby and Weiss keeping it together by a thread and Professor Ozpin driving. She looked out to look at the grave and the flower; the cloudy sky began to rain as if to cry in Nora's place. The Autumn Lotus glowed for as long as Nora could see it and just before she could no longer see it anymore she lifted her hand with index finger at length and touched the glass covering the lotus and barely audibly said, "Boop."


	6. Chapter 5: An Ally Least Seen

Chapter 5: An Ally Least Seen

_(When last we left our red hero, Ruby was sent plummeting to the base of the Beacon. Bungee jumping without a bungee is dangerous, how will our hero survive this fall? Find out this week on JUSTICE LEAGUE. Wait… I messed up… do over… *Ahem* Find out this week **RWBY: A Game Turned Nightmare**.)_

Falling towards the sky, that's all she could do was fall. Ruby waited for the inevitable splash, splat at the end of this. The transport with Blake on it slowly pulled away and continued to Beacon. On the other hand ruby could see a crow with glowing blue eyes approach, again a little flash and things would change, for better this time. A hook grabbed her hood and she was immediately pulled towards the transport she had seen seconds before the ordeal with Blake. The force of the hook reeling her in and the sudden change in falling to now being pulled diagonally, caused her head to spin and to slightly lose consciousness.

"…sh…s…min…..ll…eal…..th…it."

What is going on? Where am I? Who's speaking

"N…..o…I tol…ou she's mine, I can d..l…wi.h….ed over there."

That voice, it sounds familiar. Why can't I move? Are my hands tired? Come on eyes work, work.

"Animals, every last.*sigh*… Well now what to do with you?"

I definitely know that voice. Work eyes, brain open my eyes! Please?

"Well hello Red. Come on now, I know your awake, let's see the silver here."

On second thought brain, don't open my eyes. Ruby slowly regains consciousness to see a very smug Roman Torchwick. Why did she get saved by him? Yang, even now, would be a welcome sight; she can get away from yang, but suave, master thief here was a little more of a hassle. If she didn't know better she could swear he was a hunter at some point.

"What do you want Torchwick?"

"Red, Red. Let's take a step back here; you're in trouble, I need help, your life is in my hands, I have a proposition."

"What?" Ruby snaps back with curiosity and not wanting to fall for a trap.

"I'm going to lay this flat Red. The scheme has a little hole in it, and the more elite in my group are keeping me in the dark, I need you to mess up some things to keep me an important role in my plans. Now, this sounds weird, but I figured you wouldn't mind in messing up my plans anyway."

"Umm…Uhh… Ok? So I am an ally by situation and then it's done, no backstab?"

"Heheheha, well that is the predicament now, isn't it Red? I promise I won't backstab you if you get rid of your little entourage in the process, sound fair."

Ruby had to generally think about this. On one hand WBY was trying to kill her, in the other she could live and not worry about them; however, they were now replaced by being a fallback plan for the suave criminal in the room. Roman just stood there wait for the answer for a couple of minutes, slowly losing patience and visibly getting annoyed.

"Fine, but only this once, Torchwick." Ruby said finally agreeing

Pulling her to her feet and untying the knot on her hands, Roman kept his hand outstretched, ruby took the hand and they both shook. This was really the weirdest pairing Ruby could think of; CRNL was one thing, but Qrow had been right, Torchwick really is the last person she would ally with.

"Well Red, just stay here and when we get to an area you can do some damage I'll let you have some fun. And while I remember, the white fang are there; however, there are some thugs that don't like how things are going. Don't knock them out." Torchwick walked out of the little room with his still cocky attitude, just before exiting Roman looked back and smiled; his eyes flashed blue for a second then he continued on.

Sometime later Ruby felt the transport descend and land, she had to remember that she was in the machine, if the others were real than she had to be careful; if Torchwick is real, he wouldn't just give his plans away. Wait this isn't real. Why did she remember that know? She sat there and waited for Torchwick, he came back gave her Crescent Rose opened the back hatch and out she went with little known and a lot to get done. On first glance she could see the docks and … warehouse ten; first instinct, get there quick.

Whatever seventh sense (her sixth is telling danger*) she had been growing in this journey was helping her; the decision was to either to go through the top and look in to see what was in their or look through low windows… her executive decision was fun, and to the roof to sneak in the top she went. Climb some conveniently placed boxes hope a barely jumpable gap and hoisting herself into a high window to get in; it was kinda like a video game. When she looked down she gave that seventh sense thing a toss out the window; the emerald hair girl, Yang, and Blake all stood in the middle of the warehouse.

Ruby had no idea how to handle this; her surroundings were shipping containers, boxes, and White Fang. On second look at Yang and Blake, they also looked different from earlier. Yang wore a white jacket with grey clothes to more match the White Fang and Blake wore a mask similar to the White Fang as well, a beowolf's mask by the look of it.

One thing had been bothering her, the increasing uneasiness had her body telling her to run. The only way she would know if things could go south was her always trusty six

*ping*

Ruby looks up to see the missing snowflake falling. Ruby's only choice was to fall to avoid Weiss's attack. This 'surprisingly' alerted everyone in the warehouse to her presence; this lead to an all-out fight. She started with knocking down every crate and container to crush the White Fang from getting in her way. That left the four actual threats; Green hair was first, blocking the support attacks with her recoil and the end of her attacks. Maybe because she didn't actually know the figure, but Greenie was thrown aside rather quickly.

Blake was her next target, starting with: slamming Crescent Rose into the ground, cart wheeling over her scythe and slamming her combat boots into Blake, grabbing Crescent Rose and launching Blake into the closest steel beam. Blake quickly recovers using her semblance using quick cuts and agility to open Ruby's defense. Ruby opens her defense to her head; Blake takes the bait and uses her semblance to jump high, her attempts are cut short when the back end of Crescent rose flings her to a nice place to rest lodged in the same steel beam.

Weiss is a whole different fighter with predictable moves. Ruby had been lucky enough to see her fights and learn her style, she would have to focus on pure power and relentless force to whittle her down to a point she can force her to the side. Yang's constant volley will be a good distraction; Ruby forces Weiss into as many rockets as possible, forcing her to either tank the hit or give Ruby room to breathe. Ruby's patience pays off, she forces Weiss to another steel beam and smacks Weiss right into it; cutting the beam at the same time, which technically put her through the beam.

Roll call: Greenie, unconscious, Blakey, down for the count, Schnee(y), out cold… so Yang was the final fire to snuff. This fight consisted of the sisters who had basically the same fighting style naturally, but Ruby had the disadvantage of not being able to take any of Yang's hits. She focused on dodging her sister's hits, forcing her back another steel beam. Yang punches right through the beam and an audible groan can be heard. THAT'S IT! Ruby focuses on weakening the structure dodging and letting Yang make her own grave. When the structure visibly starts to cave in; Ruby disappears in a puff of petals and starts cutting at the roof and letting the warehouse fall around her.

Yang's groans were the only actual sounds. Just like her fight in the Snowfall clearing, the space was quiet and still.

"Well Red! I Guess you did everything to the letter."

"Torchwick, we had a deal. Let me go, no double crossing."

"Your right Red," raising his cane, "I guess I'll keep my promise."

Ruby tires to run, but trips. She turns to see Torchwick steadying his shot.

"Conquered. Red." His eyes flash a pretty blue and a shot is fired. Her vision blurs and a white noise causes her to lose consciousness.

In the warehouse Ozpin looks around the floor. The staff runs back and forth checking equipment and running backup systems to gain control of the device once more. Sun had given him the rundown of what has occurred within the last hour. The constant read off of statistics showed that the company was a good and had an idea on how to deal with sudden problems; however, the lack of experience on the team had become evident with the lack of order in this chaos.

Ozpin decided to look at the device directly. The size was evident that it was in early developmental stages and still had a long life ahead of it if it made it past today. He saw the buttons, knobs and dials, but the screen on the device held his interest.

"Excuse me. Miss."

"Yes, Headmaster Ozpin? I'm sorry we look so unorganized, this problem never occurred in the original test. How can I help you?"

More of How can I help you." Ozpin states pointing to the screen. The guide looks at the screen confused and dazed. She calls what appears to be the lead coder. The screen held one message,

"Conquered 4.2% -Mimic"

_Puns, yes I went as low as puns in a serious fight. Now, who's Mimic? What was Torchwick in there for? Why did his eyes glow? Four percent conquered? All in good time. Hope I have kept your interest with Ruby's struggles. Let's see one hundred divided by eight is 12.5 and one-third of that is four point one two five. The numbers Mason! WHAT DO THEY MEAN?_

_P.S. The last chapter was indeed meant for Monty. I hope you guys enjoyed the side story, even if it was for a sad moment in time. Please remember that RWBY will always be Monty's; it only makes sense that he isn't gone, he just lives at Beacon now. "Myths are forgotten, but Legends always live on." _

_AN/ hello everyone Dark here, huh yea. I guess I messed up. I had a sixth chapter but as I was ready to upload the seventh, it seems that I never uploaded the sixth. I will have the sixth chapter up before next week and still give you the seventh chapter as it was written. sorry again thank you for your patience. _


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